Our Home in Nature

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The Village

On a large plateau 200 meters southwest from our current home is an about 3-4 acre mostly cleared, flat, open area with great solar exposure, full sun all day and close access to water and power (via PV or micro hydro from the creek).
There are several springs around the site providing clean, clear water year round as well as seasonal runoff creeks that we can access to provide for our household and irrigation water needs.

The plan is to build a central community building and barn, a large water storage pond, and community gardens. Interested families would build their homes around the perimeter of the site providing each with great solar exposure, great views of the valley and surrounding hills, yet offering everyone their own personal space. Around each natural home, we foresee everyone having their zone 0 gardens. The site is ideally situated to receive internet signal via a wireless system located on the neighbouring mountain and land line phone connections for all our communication needs. South of the village site is a gentle slope that we hope to terrace for more intensive farming practices.

With our small sawmill, heavy equipment (excavator, dump truck and tractor) as well as the wealth of natural resources located on the property (wood, stone, clay, sand and straw nearby) that can be (sparingly and ethically) utilized for building, we think we have all the building blocks needed to start construction in the summer of 2014.

Of course a village is not just a collection of buildings, but the people that make it up. Unlike many other eco villages, intentional communities and “communes” that we have seen and looked into, we would like to see 3-4 like minded families move here that see the world and the possibilities of the future as positives. Our philosophy is one of personal freedom but collective conscience. Being prepared for an uncertain future, but not at the expense of our quality of life. We want to work with and help out our neighbours, working for the common good of the community and bringing everyone up together. We don’t require certain diets or religious commitments here. We don’t care if you are a buddist vegan or an omnivorous atheist (like Oliver). Individual enterprise is encouraged (opportunities in countless sustainable industries) and the possibilities abound. The idea of local currency, as well as barter and trade economy is something that we would like to explore more. We are focused on an more agrarian lifestyle, but encourage any sustainable ideas and businesses that residents want to run. Eco-tourism and education, festivals, workshops, galleries, markets, agricultural ventures and thousands of other ideas are all possibilities here! The only limit is our own imagination.

Our dream is to get up to 4 full time homes living here eventually. Unlike many consensus base communities (which we feel puts all the power in one person and becomes the slowest and most conservative method of governance) we intend the community to govern by means of overwhelming majority (minimum 75% vote to pass a motion and are considering the use of a ‘one no vote’ to provide veto power to residents). Residents will be able to lease a piece of bare land (a bare land lease) and on that, within the bounds of their plot build their eco-home and personal garden. There would be a small monthly fee that would go into a community coffer for use by the community for infrastructure building, taxes, etc. Anyone interested in living here, would need to spend at least a year on the property, to see if the fit is right before any commitment could be made. This means working with us on projects, getting to know us, asking questions, figuring if the area is right for you… etc.

This is a life long multi-generational commitment for us and we hope for those that choose to come here as well. We are looking for educated, ambitious, balanced, interesting multi-faceted people and families to share this with. People who love nature and the outdoors, living closer to it and naturally but who also seek community.

Use the link below to explore the property. The google maps pictures are a little dated and there has been much regrowth since then.